A planned $250m big screen revival for The Lone Ranger starring Johnny Depp and The Social Network's Armie Hammer has been put on hold by studio Disney due to spiralling production costs, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The team behind the hugely successful Pirates of the Caribbean series, director Gore Verbinski, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Depp, had been set to reunite on the project, which was being lined up as a major tentpole release for the mouse house in 2012. Some reports suggest the film may still see the light of day, but with a reduced budget – Depp in particular is still reportedly keen to play the role of Tonto, the Lone Ranger's native American sidekick in the original 1930s radio serial. The ranger himself was due to be played by Armie Hammer, who portrayed both Winklevoss twins via special effects in The Social Network.

Disney was reportedly moved to act following the failure of Cowboys and Aliens, another western-themed blockbuster, to score at the US box office last month. Attempts to persuade Verbinski to agree to a reduced budget appear to have failed, and the studio made the decision to take the film off schedules for the timebeing. The move may affect Disney's ongoing relationship with Johnny Depp, who is currently due to star in a fifth Pirates of the Caribbean film for the company, as well as uber-producer Bruckheimer. However, the studio has a number of other expensive projects in production, including sci-fi epic John Carter, at a reported cost of more than $250m, and fantasy Oz: the Great and Powerful, so is eagerly guarding its pennies.

Never seen without his mask in the most famous iterations, the Lone Ranger began life as a radio serial in the 1930s before graduating to television between 1949 and 1957. The news will be especially disappointing for Hammer, who was set to become a household name in the lead, and British actor Ruth Wilson, from the BBC crime series Luther, who recently signed on to play the female lead in her first major Hollywood role.